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Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said today's announcement will make it much easier to go into boardrooms of multinational companies and convince them to create jobs in regional locations.

Under the new guidelines, most of regional Ireland, which covers just over 50% of the population, remains eligible.

It is an increase from the 25% originally proposed by the EU Commission.

State aid to businesses in more disadvantaged areas of the country is an important part of the Government's jobs strategy.